An evaluation of silicone‐hydrogel lenses worn on a daily wear basis

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the clinical performance of two brands of silicone‐hydrogel lenses when worn on a daily wear basis. Methods: Fifty‐six subjects with no ocular disease were enrolled at multiple sites in Australasia. Contact lenses made from galyfilcon A or lotrafilcon A were randomly assigned to each eye of the subject and the lenses were worn on a daily wear basis for a period of two weeks. Subjects did not know the identity of the lenses they wore. Clinical data and patient responses to a questionnaire were gathered at an initial visit and after two weeks of wear. Results: For both lenses, the degree of limbal hyperaemia and bulbar conjunctival hyperaemia decreased significantly over the two‐week wearing period. The eyes wearing galyfilcon A lenses showed an increase in conjunctival staining compared to the baseline measures. On average, galyfilcon A lenses decentred more and moved less than the lotrafilcon A lenses. The lotrafilcon A lenses showed a greater loss of wettability, as judged by practitioner grading, than the galyfilcon A lenses over the two‐week period. The subjective responses showed strong preference for the galyfilcon A lens across 26 of 27 questions relating to comfort, vision, handling, preference and other subjective outcomes. Discussion: The results show that different silicone‐hydrogel lenses have different performance characteristics on the eye, when worn on a daily wear basis. Striving for high oxygen transmissibility at the expense of other properties may lead to a range of undesirable performance characteristics.

The Stability of Dryness Symptoms After Refitting With Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lenses Over 3 Years

“…Although dryness symptoms are not eliminated with the use of silicone hydrogel lenses 21,22 and remain an important area for continued research, this study indicates that dryness is a significantly reduced problem among lotrafilcon A lens wearers during continuous wear of up to 30 nights than when those patients previously wore hydrogel lenses on a daily-wear or 6-night extended-wear basis. The stability of dryness symptoms over 3 years supports the study conducted by Stern et al 23 but are in contrast to those of Fonn and Dumbleton.…”

Comparative Evaluation of Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lenses and Autologous Serum for Management of Sjögren Syndrome-Associated Dry Eye

“…[32][33][34] Silicone hydrogel lens wearers also reported better comfort after napping or sleeping, and in dry air or smoky environments. This may be attributed to the fact that silicone hydrogel lens materials are less prone to evaporation and absorb fewer airborne pollutants compared with lenses with higher water content.…”

Comfort and Adaptation to Silicone Hydrogel Lenses for Daily Wear

“…9,10 Although a number of previous studies have investigated refitting conventional hydrogel lens wearers with SH lenses for daily wear, 4,[11][12][13][14] none have compared multiple SH lens types in a crossover design or examined the initial adaptation, diurnal comfort, and comfort with lens age and compared this with conventional hydrogel lenses. The purpose of this study was to compare the initial and adapted comfort of all spherical design SH lenses marketed at the time the study was conducted (2006) and to further investigate real-time comfort ratings throughout the day and with lens age in a novel manner by using hand-held wireless technology.…”